Method and system for determining a position of a plurality of transmitting nodes

ABSTRACT

A method is disclosed for estimating a position of a plurality of transmitting nodes. The method comprises installing a telecommunication application in each of the plurality of transmitting nodes; transmitting a plurality of data packets; generating a plurality of transmission quality coefficients using the plurality of data packets; determining a corresponding plurality of transmission scores; estimating a distance between each pair of transmitting nodes, wherein the estimating of the distance between each pair of transmitting nodes is performed using a corresponding transmission score and a lookup table; generating an estimation of a position of the plurality of transmitting nodes using the plurality of estimated distances; providing the generated estimation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority on U.S. Provisional Application No.62/688,736, filed on Jun. 22, 2018.

FIELD

The invention relates to data processing. More precisely, the inventionpertains to a method and system for determining a position of aplurality of transmitting nodes.

BACKGROUND

The world gets more and more populated by smart agents of all kinds,from smart vehicles to mobile or wearable devices, from drones to smarttags.

Such widespread sensing, storage and computing capabilities at the edgeand Internet ecosystem are naturally leveraged by ArtificialIntelligence (AI) applications to automate and optimize our lives in themost varied domains, e.g., smart-home, smart-building, industry 4.0,construction 4.0, smart-cities, etc. (see L. D. Xu, W. He, and S. Li.Internet of things in industries: A survey. IEEE Transactions onIndustrial Informatics, 10(4):2233-2243, November 2014 and M. Chiang andT. Zhang. Fog and iot: An overview of research opportunities. IEEEInternet of Things Journal, 3(6):854-864, December 2016.)

Autonomous applications aiming to optimize and automate processes mayrequire the smart interaction among multiple smart agents. Theinteraction may be triggered/driven by different types of metrics,measures and actionable-insights derived in real-time from thesurrounding environment.

Location-related aspects, e.g., proximity indicators andabsolute/relative location coordinates, are among the key factorsleveraged to implement smart applications for both outdoor and indoorenvironments.

The capacity of geo-locating the elements of interest with enoughaccuracy affects the performance of the smart applications runningabove. Phenomena such as signal multipath, shadowing and attenuationmake geo-location within indoor environments more challenging than inoutdoor scenarios (See A. Paul and T. Sato. Localization in WirelessSensor Networks: A Survey on Algorithms, Measurement Techniques,Applications and Challenges. Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks,6(4):24, October 2017).

It will be appreciated that geo-location methodologies can becategorized across two main classes, i.e., range-based and range-free(See A. Paul and T. Sato. Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks: ASurvey on Algorithms, Measurement Techniques, Applications andChallenges. Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks, 6(4):24, October2017.)

Methods falling within the first class, i.e., range-based, relies on theelaboration of measures directly related to the received signals, e.g.,signal strength.

Methods and apparatus for collaborative relative localization inheterogeneous ecosystems and metrics which are directly related to thesignal emitted by the tracked element (See A. Paul and T. Sato.Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks: A Survey on Algorithms,Measurement Techniques, Applications and Challenges. Journal of Sensorand Actuator Networks, 6(4):24, October 2017.) Examples of such factorsare the Time Of Arrival (TOA) (See Z. Qu, Y. Chen, and G. Wu.CN106970353A—Communication base station-based three-dimensionalpositioning tracking and trajectory calculation method, 2017), ReceivedSignal Strength Indicator (RSSI) (See J. Blumenthal, F. Reichenbach, andD. Timmermann. Minimal Transmission Power vs. Signal Strength asDistance Estimation for Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks. In2006 3rd Annual IEEE Communications Society on Sensor and Ad HocCommunications and Networks, pages 761-766. IEEE, 2006 and S. Khan, A.Akram, and S. Usman. Wi-Fi Based Positioning Algorithm for IndoorEnvironment using 802.11 Standards. International Journal of Scientific& Engineering Research, 5(3):279-283, 2014), Angle Of Arrival (AOA) (SeeM. Kotaru, K. Joshi, D. Bharadia, and S. Katti. SpotFi. In Proceedingsof the 2015 ACM Conference on Special Interest Group on DataCommunication—SIGCOMM '15, pages 269-282, New York, N.Y., USA, 2015. ACMPress.), Time Difference Of Arrival (TDOA) (See R. J. Anderson and M. L.Ward. US20080261613A1—Sparsed U-TDOA Wireless Location Networks, 2008)and boolean connectivity indicator (See M. E. Davis, R. Nair, J.O'Sullivan, C. Paretti, C. W. Higgins, and O. Zaltzman. U.S. Pat. No.8,045,482B2—Location tracking based on proximity-based ad hoc network,2011.).

Due to software limitations—absence of APIs offered by the operatingsystem (See Apple Developer Forums—WiFi Signal in iOS?https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/78559, 2017. [Online; accessed21-May-2018].)—or to specific hardware requirements (See M. Malajner, Z.Cucej, and D. Gleich. Angle of arrival estimation using a singleomnidirectional rotatable antenna. In 2012 IEEE International Conferenceon Wireless Information Technology and Systems (ICWITS), volume 12,pages 1-4. IEEE, November 2012.), the information demanded byrange-based methods may not be available which is a limitation.

Practically speaking, in some settings, it is impossible to gain accessto sender or receiver devices. In other settings, single or multiplesensors or receiver devices are shielded in the operating system (OS)from programmers, and are used in a black-box mode, with limited or nopossibility to access or program.

Range-free approaches offer a valid alternative when informationcharacterizing the received signals cannot be leveraged. A subset ofthese solutions exploits GPS or other Global Navigation SatelliteSystems (GNSS) to geo-locate the elements of interest (See S. Qiu, Y.Zhong, H. Liu, L. Sun, M. Zhou, C. Zhang, Y. Jin, and H. Chen.CN104828698A—Ad Hoc network-based crane automatic cruising system ofBei-dou positioning system, and method thereof, 2017.), or at least apart of them (See Z. Zhang, Z. Sun, G. Wang, R. Yu, and S. Mei.Localization in wireless sensor networks with mobile anchor nodes.Qinghua Daxue Xuebao/Journal of Tsinghua University,47(4):1187-1197,2007.)

When the location of a subset of sensing/tracking nodes is known(possibly through GPS), network topology features like the hop distancebetween anchors and tracked nodes are elaborated to geo-locate of thetracked elements (See L. Gui, T. Val, A. Wei, and R. Dalce. Improvementof range-free localization technology by a novel DV-hop protocol inwireless sensor networks. Ad Hoc Networks, 24(PB):55-73, January 2015,D. Niculescu and B. Nath. DV Based Positioning in Ad Hoc Networks.Telecommunication Systems, 22(1/4):267-280, 2003 and T. Moscibroda, R.O'Dell, M. Wattenhofer, and R. Wattenhofer. Virtual coordinates for adhoc and sensor networks. Proceedings of the 2004 joint workshop onFoundations of mobile computing (DIALM-POMC), pages 1-8, 2004.).

However, network topology features like the average hop-distance may notbe robust enough to guarantee accurate geo-localization (e.g., indoorgeo-localization, short distances between nodes, etc.) (See S. Zaidi, A.El Assaf, S. Affes, and N. Kandil. Accurate Range-Free Localization inMulti-Hop Wireless Sensor Networks. IEEE Transactions on Communications,64(9):3886-3900, September 2016) which is a drawback.

Moreover, it is not always possible to rely on the increased accuracyobtained by including GPS measures in the core of range-free solutions:GPS signal may be weak or absent (e.g., indoor locations), as well asGPS-related hardware may not be available due to limited computationcapabilities or energy awareness aspects (See A. Dwivedi and P. R.Vamsi. Performance analysis of range free localization methods forwireless sensor networks. In 2017 4th International Conference on SignalProcessing, Computing and Control (ISPCC), pages 521-526. IEEE,September 2017.)

There is a need for a method and a system that will overcome at leastone of the above-identified limitations.

Features of the invention will be apparent from review of thedisclosure, drawings and description of the invention below.

BRIEF SUMMARY

According to a broad aspect, there is disclosed a method for estimatinga position of a plurality of transmitting nodes, the method comprisinginstalling a telecommunication application in each of the plurality oftransmitting nodes forming a virtual communication network; transmittinga plurality of data packets, each data packet transmitted between a pairof transmitting nodes; generating a plurality of transmission qualitycoefficients using the plurality of data packets, each transmissionquality coefficient indicative of a quality of transmission between agiven pair of transmitting nodes; determining a corresponding pluralityof transmission scores using the generated plurality of transmissionquality coefficients and data associated with each of the plurality oftransmitting nodes, each transmission score associated with a given pairof transmitting nodes; estimating a distance between each pair oftransmitting nodes using the telecommunication application, wherein theestimating of the distance between each pair of transmitting nodes isperformed using a corresponding transmission score and a lookup table;generating an estimation of a position of the plurality of transmittingnodes using the plurality of estimated distances; providing thegenerated estimation of the position of the plurality of transmittingnodes; and wherein the lookup table associates a transmission score witha corresponding distance.

In accordance with an embodiment, the virtual communication network is avirtual ad-hoc telecommunication network (MANET) formed by the pluralityof transmitting nodes.

In accordance with an embodiment, each transmitting node is one of amobile node and a fixed node.

In accordance with an embodiment, the transmitting of the plurality ofdata packets comprises generating data packets at a constant frequencybetween any couple of interconnected transmitting nodes.

In accordance with an embodiment, the data packets are generated betweenany couple of interconnected transmitting nodes that are directneighbors in the virtual communication network.

In accordance with an embodiment, the transmitting of the plurality ofdata packets comprises generating data packets randomly in timeaccording to a probability distribution.

In accordance with an embodiment, the transmission quality coefficientscomprise quality of service (QoS) metrics.

In accordance with an embodiment, the quality of service (QoS) metricsis selected from a group consisting of a packet loss percentage, a pathlatency and a jitter.

In accordance with an embodiment, each transmission quality coefficientindicative of a quality of transmission between a given pair oftransmitting nodes is generated by a receiving node of the given pair oftransmitting node.

In accordance with an embodiment, the determining of a correspondingplurality of transmission scores comprises combining the generatedplurality of transmission quality coefficients and data associated withthe plurality of transmitting nodes.

In accordance with an embodiment, the data associated with the pluralityof transmitting nodes comprises information contained in a header of acorresponding received packet.

In accordance with an embodiment, the information data is selected froma group consisting of a nominal maximum transmission range of networkinterfaces of transit nodes, corresponding intermediate transmissionscores of intermediate nodes and on range-based data.

In accordance with an embodiment, the determining of a correspondingplurality of transmission scores using the generated plurality oftransmission quality coefficients and data associated with each of theplurality of transmitting nodes comprises correlating a QoS metric to anestimated value of Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR).

In accordance with an embodiment, the method further comprises amendingthe lookup table over time.

In accordance with an embodiment, the generating of the estimation of aposition of the plurality of transmitting nodes is performed by a giventransmitting node of the plurality of transmitting nodes.

In accordance with an embodiment, the generating of the estimation of aposition of the plurality of transmitting nodes is performed by anotherprocessing unit.

In accordance with an embodiment, the generated estimation of theposition of the plurality of transmitting nodes is provided to a givenprocessing unit.

In accordance with an embodiment, the providing of the generatedestimation of the position of the plurality of transmitting nodescomprises providing a corresponding position of a correspondingtransmitting node to the corresponding transmitting node.

In accordance with a broad aspect, there is disclosed a method forestimating a position of a plurality of transmitting nodes, the methodcomprising generating a plurality of transmission quality coefficientsusing a plurality of data packets transmitted over a virtualcommunication network formed by the plurality of transmitting nodes,each transmission quality coefficient indicative of a quality oftransmission between a given pair of transmitting nodes; determining acorresponding plurality of transmission scores using the generatedplurality of transmission quality coefficients and data associated witheach of the plurality of transmitting nodes, each transmission scoreassociated with a given pair of transmitting nodes; estimating adistance between each pair of transmitting nodes using thetelecommunication application, wherein the estimating of the distancebetween each pair of transmitting nodes is performed using acorresponding transmission score and a lookup table; generating anestimation of a position of the plurality of transmitting nodes usingthe plurality of estimated distances; providing the generated estimationof the position of the plurality of transmitting nodes; and wherein thevirtual communication network is generated by installing atelecommunication application in each of the plurality of transmittingnodes; further wherein the lookup table associates a transmission scorewith a corresponding distance.

In accordance with a broad aspect, there is disclosed a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium for storing computer-executableinstructions which, when executed, cause a processing device to performa method for estimating a position of a plurality of transmitting nodes,the method comprising installing a telecommunication application in eachof the plurality of transmitting nodes forming a virtual communicationnetwork; transmitting a plurality of data packets, each data packettransmitted between a pair of transmitting nodes; generating a pluralityof transmission quality coefficients using the plurality of datapackets, each transmission quality coefficient indicative of a qualityof transmission between a given pair of transmitting nodes; determininga corresponding plurality of transmission scores using the generatedplurality of transmission quality coefficients and data associated witheach of the plurality of transmitting nodes, each transmission scoreassociated with a given pair of transmitting nodes; estimating adistance between each pair of transmitting nodes using thetelecommunication application, wherein the estimating of the distancebetween each pair of transmitting nodes is performed using acorresponding transmission score and a lookup table; generating anestimation of a position of the plurality of transmitting nodes usingthe plurality of estimated distances; providing the generated estimationof the position of the plurality of transmitting nodes; and wherein thelookup table associates a transmission score with a correspondingdistance.

In accordance with a broad aspect, there is disclosed a transmittingnode comprising a central processing unit; a communication portoperatively connected to the central processing unit, the communicationport for operatively connecting the transmitting node to a plurality oftransmitting nodes via a data network; a memory unit comprising atelecommunication application for forming a virtual communicationnetwork between the plurality of transmitting nodes; an application forestimating a position of a plurality of transmitting nodes, theapplication comprising: instructions for generating a plurality oftransmission quality coefficients using a plurality of data packetstransmitted over the virtual communication network formed by theplurality of transmitting nodes, each transmission quality coefficientindicative of a quality of transmission between a given pair oftransmitting nodes; instructions for determining a correspondingplurality of transmission scores using the generated plurality oftransmission quality coefficients and data associated with each of theplurality of transmitting nodes, each transmission score associated witha given pair of transmitting nodes; instructions for estimating adistance between each pair of transmitting nodes using thetelecommunication application, wherein the estimating of the distancebetween each pair of transmitting nodes is performed using acorresponding transmission score and a lookup table; instructions forgenerating an estimation of a position of the plurality of transmittingnodes using the plurality of estimated distances; instructions forproviding the generated estimation of the position of the plurality oftransmitting nodes and wherein the lookup table associates atransmission score with a corresponding distance.

The processing steps of the method disclosed include, in one embodiment,i) generating a virtual network interconnecting all the involvedelements, i.e., tracked and sensing, ii) a periodic generation ofnetwork packets tailored to evaluate the network state and collectnetwork information, iii) a computation of a multi-dimensional gradient,also referred to as a transmission score, based on the collected networkmeasures and network information, iv) a transformation of thetransmission scores into relative distance estimations within thecorresponding pair of tracked and sensing elements, v) the interpolationof all the estimated distance values to geolocate the tracked elementsaccording to a common system of coordinates in 3 axes.

It will be appreciated that the method disclosed therefore transformsabstract QoS metrics, as well as abstract node information extractedfrom a virtual network into a transmission score which is directlycorrelated to the relative distance between the source and thedestination of a traffic demand transmitted over the virtual networkitself. This enables an absolute distance to be estimated or establishedusing a conversion factor or algorithm.

In one embodiment, transmission score adjustments may be done throughdata fusion within each of the transmitting nodes. It will also beappreciated that the abstract QoS metric variation, as well as thedirection of variation, may be included to map or predict therepresentation within a 3D space.

It will be appreciated that an object of the invention is to provide amethod for efficiently geolocalizing elements of interest within a 3Dspace.

It will be appreciated that another object of the invention is to enablea geolocalization independently of a mobility pattern characterizingboth sensing and tracked devices. The method disclosed herein iscompatible with both moving and fixed sensing devices, as well as withboth moving and fixed tracked devices. Sensing and tracking may also bedone on the same device.

The method disclosed herein is of great advantage for various reasons.

A first advantage of the method disclosed is that it provides anefficient geolocalization of elements of interest within a 3D space.

A second advantage of the method disclosed is that it does not require amodification of the operating system of the transmitting nodes.

A third advantage of the method disclosed is that very limited or noinformation of the network physical layer is required.

A fourth advantage of the method disclosed is that it enables a 3Dgeo-localization in presence of a highly heterogeneous environment. Theheterogeneity concerns both the sensing (tracking) infrastructure andthe tracked elements. Heterogeneity is overcome by considering virtualabstractions independent of the underlying hardware and softwaretechnology.

A fifth advantage of the method disclosed is that it uses a virtualcommunication network which reduces an amount of information requiredconcerning the underlying software and physical layer to a very limitedsubset of data easy accessible of any device.

Another advantage of the method disclosed is that it is compatible withthree class of mobility scenarios concerning the transmitting nodes,i.e., i) only static transmitting nodes, ii) coexistence of both staticand mobile transmitting nodes, iii) only mobile transmitting nodes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the invention may be readily understood, embodiments ofthe invention are illustrated by way of example in the accompanyingdrawings.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart which shows an embodiment of a method forestimating a position of a plurality of transmitting nodes.

FIG. 2 is a diagram which shows an embodiment of a system in which themethod for estimating a position of a plurality of transmitting nodesmay be implemented.

FIG. 3 is a diagram which shows an embodiment of a transmitting nodewhich may be used in the method for estimating a position of a pluralityof transmitting nodes.

Further details of the invention and its advantages will be apparentfrom the detailed description included below.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of the embodiments, references to theaccompanying drawings are by way of illustration of an example by whichthe invention may be practiced.

Terms

The term “invention” and the like mean “the one or more inventionsdisclosed in this application,” unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “an aspect,” “an embodiment,” “embodiment,” “embodiments,”“the embodiment,” “the embodiments,” “one or more embodiments,” “someembodiments,” “certain embodiments,” “one embodiment,” “anotherembodiment” and the like mean “one or more (but not all) embodiments ofthe disclosed invention(s),” unless expressly specified otherwise.

A reference to “another embodiment” or “another aspect” in describing anembodiment does not imply that the referenced embodiment is mutuallyexclusive with another embodiment (e.g., an embodiment described beforethe referenced embodiment), unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “including,” “comprising” and variations thereof mean“including but not limited to,” unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “a,” “an” and “the” mean “one or more,” unless expresslyspecified otherwise.

The term “plurality” means “two or more,” unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The term “herein” means “in the present application, including anythingwhich may be incorporated by reference,” unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The term “whereby” is used herein only to precede a clause or other setof words that express only the intended result, objective or consequenceof something that is previously and explicitly recited. Thus, when theterm “whereby” is used in a claim, the clause or other words that theterm “whereby” modifies do not establish specific further limitations ofthe claim or otherwise restricts the meaning or scope of the claim.

The term “e.g.” and like terms mean “for example,” and thus do not limitthe terms or phrases they explain.

The term “i.e.” and like terms mean “that is,” and thus limit the termsor phrases they explain.

Neither the Title nor the Abstract is to be taken as limiting in any wayas the scope of the disclosed invention(s). The title of the presentapplication and headings of sections provided in the present applicationare for convenience only, and are not to be taken as limiting thedisclosure in any way.

Numerous embodiments are described in the present application, and arepresented for illustrative purposes only. The described embodiments arenot, and are not intended to be, limiting in any sense. The presentlydisclosed invention(s) are widely applicable to numerous embodiments, asis readily apparent from the disclosure. One of ordinary skill in theart will recognize that the disclosed invention(s) may be practiced withvarious modifications and alterations, such as structural and logicalmodifications. Although particular features of the disclosedinvention(s) may be described with reference to one or more particularembodiments and/or drawings, it should be understood that such featuresare not limited to usage in the one or more particular embodiments ordrawings with reference to which they are described, unless expresslyspecified otherwise.

With all this in mind, the present invention is directed to a method anda system for estimating a position of a plurality of transmitting nodes.

It will be appreciated that the method disclosed herein provides arange-free and GPS-free 3D geolocalization. As explained further below,it overcomes the accuracy limitations of state-of-the-art range-freemethods based on network topology features.

It will be appreciated that geolocating the transmitting nodes thatpopulate an area of interest may be critical to run a wide range ofsmart and autonomous applications, e.g., automatic light activationtriggered by user positions or indoor navigation services for clientslooking for specific products within a large store, etc.

The method disclosed is also critical for areas where traditional GPSsignals might be unavailable, such as space and aerospace sectors or forindoor applications.

It will be also appreciated that the method disclosed herein provides anaccurate 3D geolocation in scenarios where range-based approaches cannotbe implemented due to hardware/software limitations and traditionalrange-free solutions based on GPS or connectivity graphs are notavailable or accurate enough.

As further disclosed below, the 3D geo-localization process is based onthe ability of interconnecting all the involved devices, both tracking(sensing) and tracked, on a virtual ad-hoc communication network. Itwill be appreciated that, while this may still be possible in anembodiment, the virtual communication network is not used fortraditional communication purposes, i.e., to carry the informationgenerated by the application running.

Now referring to FIG. 1, there is shown an embodiment of a method forestimating a position of a plurality of transmitting nodes.

It will be appreciated that the method disclosed in FIG. 1 may beimplemented in various ways.

In fact and now referring to FIG. 2, there is shown an embodiment of asystem disclosing how the method for estimating a position of aplurality of transmitting nodes may be implemented.

In this embodiment, the system comprises a plurality of transmittingnodes and a data network 202.

It will be appreciated that a transmitting node may be defined as anytype of device equipped with at least one communication interface, alsoreferred to as a communication port. In one embodiment, the transmittingnode also comprises a central processing device operatively connected tothe communication port and a memory unit operatively connected to thecentral processing device.

For instance and in one embodiment, the plurality of transmitting nodesmay comprise a plurality of drones, each drone having a communicationinterface. In such embodiment, the method disclosed herein may be usedfor determining a position for each drone of the plurality of drones.

It will be appreciated that in a further embodiment at least one of theplurality of transmitting nodes may be advantageously integrated withexisting energy consuming or providing devices, such as for instance anelectrical plug, a lightbulb, a power cord, etc. In such embodiment, thetransmitting node will benefit from the energy available at the existingenergy device. The skilled addressee will appreciate that this will beof great advantage for enhancing the size of the network and theaccuracy. In such embodiment, the method may be used for determining aposition of individuals equipped with a smartphone or a wearable devicewithin an indoor environment.

In another embodiment, the plurality of transmitting nodes may comprisea set of nodes with sensors, such as vital signs monitoring sensors,with telecommunication capabilities (e.g., Bluetooth™, Wifi™, etc) thatcan deliver information including data and relative or absolutegeopositioning that will enhance operations (for instance victim rescuewithin an emergency response operation), and connect all information toother nodes (i.e. mobile devices) for operation management(visualization and decision making through smart devices). It will beappreciated by the skilled addressee that this information may also beused to move nodes, which may be human agents or robotic agents, forenhanced operations and optimized workflow management which is of greatadvantage.

It will be appreciated that in another embodiment, the plurality oftransmitting nodes geopositions may be advantageously used toauthenticate a data source.

In another embodiment, the geolocation of transmitting nodes may help toestablish a direct optimal line of transfer of information related toquality of service (QoS) and the dynamic aspect of mobile nodes. In suchcontext, the routing for data transfers may take into account the QoSand the dynamic aspects related to the node positions.

In another alternative embodiment, the relative geolocation and the QoSmay be used to secure the network by recognizing patters and identifyingabnormalities using artificial intelligence techniques, such as deeplearning using, among others, geolocation or QoS data for intrusiondetection.

It will be further appreciated that the method disclosed herein isespecially of benefit for all off-the-shelf devices that might haveheterogeneous interfaces controlled by different types applicationprogramming interfaces (APIs).

It will be appreciated that the transmitting nodes are selected from agroup consisting of tracked nodes and sensing nodes. It will be furtherappreciated that a transmitting node may be both a tracked node and asensing node.

It will be appreciated by the skilled addressee that the transmittingnodes may be located indoor or outdoor.

The skilled addressee will appreciate that various alternativeembodiments may be provided for the transmitting nodes.

In the diagram shown in FIG. 2, the plurality of transmitting nodescomprises transmitting node 1 200, transmitting node 2 204, transmittingnode 3 206, transmitting node 4 208 and transmitting node n 210. Theskilled addressee will appreciate that any number of transmitting nodesmay be used.

It will be appreciated that each of the transmitting node 1 200, thetransmitting node 2 204, the transmitting node 3 206, the transmittingnode 4 208 and the transmitting node n 210 is one of a mobile node and afixed node.

It will be appreciated that the mobile node is a transmitting node thatmay move while a fixed node is a transmitting node that does not move.

Moreover, it will be appreciated that each of the transmitting node 1200, the transmitting node 2 204, the transmitting node 3 206, thetransmitting node 4 208 and the transmitting node n 210 may be at leastone of a sensing node and a tracked node as explained above.

It will be appreciated that a tracked node is defined as a transmittingnode for which a position has to be determined.

It will be appreciated that a sensing node is defined as a transmittingnode which is used for tracking a tracked node.

It will be appreciated that while the plurality of transmitting nodes isoperatively connected using the data network 202, in another embodiment,the plurality of transmitting nodes is operatively connected using morethan one data network. In such embodiment, each data network may or maynot operate according to a given communication protocol. Thecommunication protocol may be selected from a group consisting of IEEE802.11abgn/ac in ad-hoc (IBSS) mode, IEEE 802.11abgn/ac in access pointand station modes, DIGI Mesh, IEEE 802.15 related protocols, 3G/4G/5G+,etc. The skilled addressee will appreciate that the communicationprotocol used in a given data network depends on the communicationinterface of the transmitting nodes defining the data network.

Now referring back to FIG. 1 and according to processing step 100, atelecommunication application is installed.

It will be appreciated that the telecommunication application isinstalled in each of the plurality of transmitting nodes.

It will be appreciated that the purpose of installing thetelecommunication application is to form a virtual communication networkwith a plurality of transmitting nodes.

In one embodiment, the virtual communication network is a virtual mobilead-hoc telecommunication network (MANET) formed by the plurality oftransmitting nodes.

As known to the skilled addressee, a virtual mobile ad-hoctelecommunication network (MANET) is a popular solution to interconnect,for communication purposes, transmitting nodes among each other (see S.Qiu, Y. Zhong, H. Liu, L. Sun, M. Zhou, C. Zhang, Y. Jin, and H. Chen.CN104828698A—Ad Hoc network-based crane automatic cruising system ofBeidou positioning system, and method thereof, 2017 and C. P. Ricci.US20140309935A1—Proactive machine learning in a vehicular environment,2014.)

However, it will be appreciated that in this embodiment, the virtualmobile ad-hoc telecommunication network is used for enabling ageolocalisation as further explained below.

It will be appreciated that the plurality of transmitting nodes maydefine a highly heterogeneous environment. In order to guarantee thecompatibility with heterogeneous sets of both the tracked devices andthe sensing devices in terms of both hardware and software components,the virtual communication network, is advantageously implemented as acommunication middleware running in the user space of the underlyingdevices (See P. Garcia Lopez, R. Gracia Tinedo, and J. M. Banu's Alsina.Moving routing protocols to the user space in MANET middleware. Journalof Network and Computer Applications, 33(5):588-602, September 2010.).This prevents the need to modify the operating system of the underlyingdevices, which is a great advantage.

It will be appreciated that further information on how a virtual MANETmiddleware in the user space may be used to interconnect off-the-shelfsmart-phones has been been disclosed for instance by T. Zhuang, P.Baskett, and Y. Shang in “Managing Ad Hoc Networks of Smartphones,” Int.J. Inf. Educ. Technol., vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 540-546, 2013.

It will therefore be appreciated that a virtual communication network isbuilt among a set T of tracked nodes with a set S of sensing (tracking)nodes over the virtual communication network. The virtual communicationnetwork will enable communication traffic among all the transmittingnodes belonging to the set S u T. It will be appreciated that a sensingnode may be, at the same time, a tracked node.

It will be further appreciated that the characterization of such trafficalong with relevant-related metrics is key for performing the 3Dgeolocalization process, as further explained below.

In one embodiment, the telecommunication application is a mobile appcoded in Objective-C and compatible with any iOS™ devices such as forinstance an iPhone™, an iPad™ or an iPod™.

In another alternative embodiment, the telecommunication application isa Python application compatible with any Linux-based system providedwith a Python interpreter.

The skilled addressee will appreciate that various alternativeembodiments may be possible for the telecommunication application.

According to processing step 102, a plurality of data packets aretransmitted. In fact, it will be appreciated that each data packet, alsoreferred to as a network packet, is transmitted between a pair oftransmitting nodes.

As further explained below, the network packets are used for the purposeof evaluating a network state, collect network information, anddistribute geolocalization information among the tracking nodes.

In one embodiment, the network packets are periodically generated, i.e.,the network packets are generated at a constant frequency, between anycouple of interconnected transmitting nodes (o, d) ∀o∈S∪T, ∀d℄S.

In another embodiment, the network packets are periodically generated,i.e., the network packets are generated at a constant frequency, betweenany couple of transmitting nodes (o, d) ∀o∈S∪T, ∀d∈S that are directneighbors on the virtual network.

In an alternative embodiment, the network packets are generated randomlyin time, according to a given probability distribution.

It will be appreciated that in one embodiment, the network packets arerouted from a source to all the relevant destination nodes bytransmitting toward a broadcast or multicast address by means of agossip approach.

In another embodiment, with the intent of reducing interference andcongestion, the neighboring nodes towards which transmitting the packetsby means of gossip are selected among those nodes belonging to one (ormultiple) trees interconnecting all the nodes o∈S∪T. It will beappreciated that complexity can be reduced by partitioning the set S∪Tin multiple sub-domains based on hop-proximity, so that one or multipletrees can be computed per each sub-domain. These trees can be computedby running standard proactive routing protocols such as OSPF, RIP andrelated variants.

It will be appreciated that information characterizing the correspondingrouting path is incrementally added to the header of the network packetsas they are forwarded from transmitting node to transmitting node towardtheir destination.

It will be also appreciated that each network packet comprises specificinformation added to the header of the network packets by each transittransmitting node.

The information may comprise but are not limited to i) a nominal maximumtransmission range of the underlying network interface, ii) an ID of thetransmitting node, iii) values retrieved by other embedded sensors suchas accelerometers and barometers, iv) most recent gradient for thelast-hop and v) time stamps, vi) gradient absolute variation anddirection.

It will be appreciated that in one embodiment, the network packetstransmitted by a specific node are destined only to the directneighboring nodes.

In another embodiment, the subset of neighboring nodes towards whichtransmitting the packets can be further reduced to the set of directneighboring nodes with respect to the routing trees computed to reducethe number of network links.

According to processing step 104, a plurality of transmission qualitycoefficients is generated.

It will be appreciated that a transmission quality coefficient isindicative of a quality of a transmission for different types of packetflows between a given pair of transmitting nodes.

In fact, it will be appreciated that the transmission qualitycoefficients are generated using the plurality of data packets.

Example of transmission quality coefficients include Quality of Service(QoS) metrics, such as for instance percentage of packet losspercentage, path latency, jitter, related to different types oftransmission flows (e.g., packets of different dimensions), etc.

The skilled addressee will appreciate that various alternativeembodiments may be used for generating the transmission qualitycoefficients. For instance, the transmission quality coefficients may begenerated by normalizing each QoS indicator considered per each class ofgenerated packets (or generated packet flows), e.g., average latency forthe flow of packets of 1 KB, jitter for the flow of packets of 10 KB,etc., with respect to a best value achieved when two transmitting nodesare in maximum proximity.

Moreover it will be appreciated that each transmission qualitycoefficient is generated by a corresponding receiving node of thecorresponding pair of transmitting/receiving nodes in one embodiment.

According to processing step 106, a plurality of transmission scores aredetermined.

It will be appreciated that a transmission score can be referred to as ametric derived by combining, e.g., by doing a weighted average, of allthe transmission coefficients.

It will be appreciated that the plurality of transmission scores isdetermined using the generated plurality of transmission qualitycoefficients and data associated with each of the plurality oftransmitting nodes. Moreover, it will be appreciated that eachtransmission score is associated with a given pair of transmittingnodes.

For instance and in one embodiment, each network packet generated by adevice I∈S∪T and received by a sensing device j∈S triggers, at device j,the recalculation of a transmission score also, also referred to as agradient.

In one embodiment, the transmission score is based on two factors: i)Quality of Service (QoS) metrics (e.g., percentage of packet losspercentage, path latency, etc.) observed on the virtual communicationnetwork for the packets of traffic demand (i, j)∈S∪T×S, as well as ii)the information contained in the header of the received packet, e.g.,nominal maximum transmission range of the network interfaces of thetransit nodes, intermediate transmission scores of intermediate nodes,etc.

It will be appreciated that the transmission score may also be furtherbased on range-based data, when this is available, from the transmittingnodes. As shown in Ernesto J. Rivera-Lara, et al. “Analysis of theRelationship between QoS and SNR for an 802.11 g WLAN.” CommunicationTheory, Reliability, and Quality of Service, 2008. CTRQ'08.International Conference on. IEEE, 2008, it is possible to correlate aQoS measure to a specific value of Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR). Theknowledge of signal strength values can be used to improve the SNRestimation done through QoS measure, which will be later exploited toestimate the relative distance between two transmitting nodes.

It will be also appreciated that correction strategies may be adopted toneutralize the impact of network congestion or radio interference on thetransmission score computation.

The objective of such correction strategies is to guarantee that atransmission score degradation will be mainly due to the increaseddistance between tracked and sensing devices.

It will be appreciated that the transmission score may be determinedaccording to various alternative embodiments.

Moreover, the determination of the transmission score may be performedby a given specific transmission node in one embodiment.

In an alternative embodiment, the transmission score is determined bydirectly correlating each specific QoS metric to an estimated value ofSignal to Noise Ratio (SNR).

According to processing step 108, a distance is estimated.

It will be appreciated that the distance is estimated between each pairof transmitting nodes using the telecommunication application. Moreover,it will be appreciated that the estimating of the distance between eachpair of transmitting nodes is performed using a correspondingtransmission score and a lookup table.

The lookup table is used for providing a corresponding distance to agiven transmission score.

It will be appreciated that the lookup table may be generated accordingto various embodiments.

In one embodiment, the lookup table is generated beforehand usingexperiments. In another embodiment, the lookup table is amended overtime.

Accordingly and in one embodiment, the transmission scores which arecomputed by each sensing device j∈S with respect to any other deviceI∈S∪T from which it received a network packet, are therefore mapped intomulti-dimensional value representing the estimated distance between jand i.

It will be appreciated that statistical, analytic and artificialintelligence (AI)-based approaches, such as for instance machinelearning, deep learning, etc., may be used for that purpose.

Moreover and in one embodiment, the distance is determined by a giventransmitting node. It will be appreciated that the lookup table may ormay not be available at the given transmitting node determining thedistance. In the case where the lookup table is not available at thegiven transmitting node, the lookup table is remotely accessed by thegiven transmitting node. This processing step may be performed accordingto various embodiments as known to the skilled addressee.

According to processing step 110, an estimation of a position isgenerated.

It will be appreciated that the estimation of a position may begenerated using relative positions, i.e., various distances.

In fact, the estimated relative distance computed by each sensing nodeare shared within the virtual communication network to allow for thepurpose of computing, through collaborative interpolation, the absolutegeolocalization of all tracked and sensing elements with respect to acommon system of reference in 3 axes.

It will be appreciated that the estimation of a position of theplurality of transmitting nodes is estimated using the plurality ofestimated distances.

It will be appreciated that the estimation of the position of theplurality of transmitting nodes may be performed according to variousembodiments.

In one embodiment, the estimation of the position of the plurality oftransmitting nodes is performed by a given transmitting node of theplurality of transmitting nodes. In another embodiment, the estimationof a position of the plurality of transmitting nodes is performed byanother processing unit. It will be appreciated that the processing unitmay be of various types.

According to processing step 112, an estimation of a position isprovided.

It will be appreciated that the estimation of the position may beperformed according to various embodiments.

In one embodiment, the estimation of a position of the plurality oftransmitting nodes is transmitted to a given processing unit.

In another embodiment, each estimation of a position of each of theplurality of transmitting nodes is provided to each correspondingtransmitting node.

It will be appreciated that the method disclosed herein is of greatadvantage for various reasons.

It will be appreciated that the method disclosed herein may be used toalso complement traditional range-based approaches. For instance,factors like Time Of Arrival (TOA), Received Signal Strength Indicator(RSSI), Angle Of Arrival (AOA), Time Difference Of Arrival (TDOA) andBoolean connectivity indicator may be used to complement the range-freeapproach when available. In this particular case, such information mightbe included in the header of the network packets to increase theprecision of the 3D geo-localization process.

According to another embodiment, there is disclosed a method forestimating a position of a plurality of transmitting nodes, the methodcomprises generating a plurality of transmission quality coefficientsusing a plurality of data packets transmitted over a virtualcommunication network formed by the plurality of transmitting nodes,each transmission quality coefficient indicative of a quality oftransmission between a given pair of transmitting nodes. The methodfurther comprises determining a corresponding plurality of transmissionscores using the generated plurality of transmission qualitycoefficients and data associated with each of the plurality oftransmitting nodes, each transmission score associated with a given pairof transmitting nodes. The method further comprises estimating adistance between each pair of transmitting nodes using thetelecommunication application, wherein the estimating of the distancebetween each pair of transmitting nodes is performed using acorresponding transmission score and a lookup table. The method furthercomprises generating an estimation of a position of the plurality oftransmitting nodes using the plurality of estimated distances. Themethod further comprises providing the generated estimation of theposition of the plurality of transmitting nodes. The virtualcommunication network is generated by installing a telecommunicationapplication in each of the plurality of transmitting nodes and thelookup table associates a transmission score with a correspondingdistance.

It will be appreciated that there is also disclosed a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium for storing computer-executableinstructions which, when executed, cause a processing device to performa method for estimating a position of a plurality of transmitting nodes,the method comprising installing a telecommunication application in eachof the plurality of transmitting nodes forming a virtual communicationnetwork; transmitting a plurality of data packets, each data packettransmitted between a pair of transmitting nodes; generating a pluralityof transmission quality coefficients using the plurality of datapackets, each transmission quality coefficient indicative of a qualityof transmission between a given pair of transmitting nodes; determininga corresponding plurality of transmission scores using the generatedplurality of transmission quality coefficients and data associated witheach of the plurality of transmitting nodes, each transmission scoreassociated with a given pair of transmitting nodes; estimating adistance between each pair of transmitting nodes using thetelecommunication application, wherein the estimating of the distancebetween each pair of transmitting nodes is performed using acorresponding transmission score and a lookup table; generating anestimation of a position of the plurality of transmitting nodes usingthe plurality of estimated distances; providing the generated estimationof the position of the plurality of transmitting nodes and wherein thelookup table associates a transmission score with a correspondingdistance.

In one embodiment, shown in FIG. 3, a transmitting node 300 comprises acentral processing unit 302, a communication port 304 and a memory unit308. As mentioned previously, the transmitting node 300 may be ofvarious types.

The central processing unit 302 is operatively connected to thecommunication port 304 and to the memory unit 308 via a data bus 306.

The communication port 304 is used for operatively connecting thetransmitting node 300 to a plurality of transmitting nodes, not shown,via a data network, also not shown.

The memory unit 308 comprises a telecommunication application 310. Thetelecommunication application 10 is used for forming a virtualcommunication network between the plurality of transmitting nodes.

The memory unit 308 further comprises an application 312 for estimatinga position of a plurality of transmitting nodes.

The application 312 for estimating a position of a plurality oftransmitting nodes comprises instructions for generating a plurality oftransmission quality coefficients using a plurality of data packetstransmitted over the virtual communication network formed by theplurality of transmitting nodes, each transmission quality coefficientindicative of a quality of transmission between a given pair oftransmitting nodes.

The application 312 for estimating a position of a plurality oftransmitting nodes further comprises instructions for determining acorresponding plurality of transmission scores using the generatedplurality of transmission quality coefficients and data associated witheach of the plurality of transmitting nodes, each transmission scoreassociated with a given pair of transmitting nodes.

The application 312 for estimating a position of a plurality oftransmitting nodes further comprises instructions for estimating adistance between each pair of transmitting nodes using thetelecommunication application, wherein the estimating of the distancebetween each pair of transmitting nodes is performed using acorresponding transmission score and a lookup table.

The application 312 for estimating a position of a plurality oftransmitting nodes further comprises instructions for generating anestimation of a position of the plurality of transmitting nodes usingthe plurality of estimated distances.

The application 312 for estimating a position of a plurality oftransmitting nodes further comprises instructions for providing thegenerated estimation of the position of the plurality of transmittingnodes. It will be appreciated that the lookup table associates atransmission score with a corresponding distance. In one embodiment, thelookup table is comprised in the memory unit 308.

A first advantage of the method disclosed is that it provides anefficient geolocalization of elements of interest within a 3D space.

A second advantage of the method disclosed is that it does not modifythe operating system of the transmitting nodes.

A third advantage of the method disclosed is that very limited or noinformation of the network physical layer is required.

A fourth advantage of the method disclosed is that it enables a 3Dgeo-localization in presence of a highly heterogeneous environment. Theheterogeneity concerns both the sensing (tracking) infrastructure andthe tracked elements. Heterogeneity is overcome by considering virtualabstractions independent of the underlying hardware and softwaretechnology.

A fifth advantage of the method disclosed is that it uses a virtualcommunication network which reduces an amount of information requiredconcerning the underlying software and physical layer to a very limitedsubset of data easy accessible by any device.

Another advantage of the method disclosed is that it is compatible withthree class of mobility scenarios concerning the transmitting nodes,i.e., i) only static transmitting nodes, ii) coexistence of both staticand mobile transmitting nodes, iii) only mobile transmitting nodes.

CLAUSES

Clause 1. A method for estimating a position of a plurality oftransmitting nodes, the method comprising:

installing a telecommunication application in each of the plurality oftransmitting nodes forming a virtual communication network;

transmitting a plurality of data packets, each data packet transmittedbetween a pair of transmitting nodes;

generating a plurality of transmission quality coefficients using theplurality of data packets, each transmission quality coefficientindicative of a quality of transmission between a given pair oftransmitting nodes;

determining a corresponding plurality of transmission scores using thegenerated plurality of transmission quality coefficients and dataassociated with each of the plurality of transmitting nodes, eachtransmission score associated with a given pair of transmitting nodes;

estimating a distance between each pair of transmitting nodes using thetelecommunication application, wherein the estimating of the distancebetween each pair of transmitting nodes is performed using acorresponding transmission score and a lookup table;

generating an estimation of a position of the plurality of transmittingnodes using the plurality of estimated distances;

providing the generated estimation of the position of the plurality oftransmitting nodes; and

wherein the lookup table associates a transmission score with acorresponding distance.

Clause 2. The method as claimed in clause 1, wherein the virtualcommunication network is a virtual ad-hoc telecommunication network(MANET) formed by the plurality of transmitting nodes.Clause 3. The method as claimed in any one of clauses 1 to 2, whereineach transmitting node is one of a mobile node and a fixed node.Clause 4. The method as claimed in any one of clauses 1 to 3, whereinthe transmitting of the plurality of data packets comprises generatingdata packets at a constant frequency between any couple ofinterconnected transmitting nodes.Clause 5. The method as claimed in clause 4, wherein the data packetsare generated between any couple of interconnected transmitting nodesthat are direct neighbors in the virtual communication network.Clause 6. The method as claimed in any one of clauses 1 to 3, whereinthe transmitting of the plurality of data packets comprises generatingdata packets randomly in time according to a probability distribution.Clause 7. The method as claimed in any one of clauses 1 to 6, whereinthe transmission quality coefficients comprise quality of service (QoS)metrics.Clause 8. The method as claimed in clause 7, wherein the quality ofservice (QoS) metrics is selected from a group consisting of a packetloss percentage, a path latency and a jitter.Clause 9. The method as claimed in any one of clauses 1 to 8, whereineach transmission quality coefficient indicative of a quality oftransmission between a given pair of transmitting nodes is generated bya receiving node of the given pair of transmitting node.Clause 10. The method as claimed in any one of clauses 1 to 9, whereinthe determining of a corresponding plurality of transmission scorescomprises combining the generated plurality of transmission qualitycoefficients and data associated with the plurality of transmittingnodes.Clause 11. The method as claimed in clause 10, wherein the dataassociated with the plurality of transmitting nodes comprisesinformation data contained in a header of a corresponding receivedpacket.Clause 12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the informationdata is selected from a group consisting of a nominal maximumtransmission range of network interfaces of transit nodes, correspondingintermediate transmission scores of intermediate nodes, on range-baseddata.Clause 13. The method as claimed in any one of clauses 1 to 12, whereinthe determining of a corresponding plurality of transmission scoresusing the generated plurality of transmission quality coefficients anddata associated with each of the plurality of transmitting nodescomprises correlating a QoS metric to an estimated value of Signal toNoise Ratio (SNR).Clause 14. The method as claimed in any one of clauses 1 to 13, furthercomprising amending the lookup table over time.Clause 15. The method as claimed in any one of clauses 1 to 14, whereinthe generating of the estimation of a position of the plurality oftransmitting nodes is performed by a given transmitting node of theplurality of transmitting nodes.Clause 16. The method as claimed in any one of clauses 1 to 15, whereinthe generating of the estimation of a position of the plurality oftransmitting nodes is performed by another processing unit.Clause 17. The method as claimed in any one of clauses 1 to 16, whereinthe generated estimation of the position of the plurality oftransmitting nodes is provided to a given processing unit.Clause 18. The method as claimed in any one of clauses 1 to 16, whereinthe providing of the generated estimation of the position of theplurality of transmitting nodes comprises providing a correspondingposition of a corresponding transmitting node to the correspondingtransmitting node.Clause 19. A method for estimating a position of a plurality oftransmitting nodes, the method comprising:

generating a plurality of transmission quality coefficients using aplurality of data packets transmitted over a virtual communicationnetwork formed by the plurality of transmitting nodes, each transmissionquality coefficient indicative of a quality of transmission between agiven pair of transmitting nodes;

determining a corresponding plurality of transmission scores using thegenerated plurality of transmission quality coefficients and dataassociated with each of the plurality of transmitting nodes, eachtransmission score associated with a given pair of transmitting nodes;

estimating a distance between each pair of transmitting nodes using thetelecommunication application, wherein the estimating of the distancebetween each pair of transmitting nodes is performed using acorresponding transmission score and a lookup table;

generating an estimation of a position of the plurality of transmittingnodes using the plurality of estimated distances;

providing the generated estimation of the position of the plurality oftransmitting nodes; and

wherein the virtual communication network is generated by installing atelecommunication application in each of the plurality of transmittingnodes;

further wherein the lookup table associates a transmission score with acorresponding distance.

Clause 20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium for storingcomputer-executable instructions which, when executed, cause aprocessing device to perform a method for estimating a position of aplurality of transmitting nodes, the method comprising:

installing a telecommunication application in each of the plurality oftransmitting nodes forming a virtual communication network;

transmitting a plurality of data packets, each data packet transmittedbetween a pair of transmitting nodes;

generating a plurality of transmission quality coefficients using theplurality of data packets, each transmission quality coefficientindicative of a quality of transmission between a given pair oftransmitting nodes;

determining a corresponding plurality of transmission scores using thegenerated plurality of transmission quality coefficients and dataassociated with each of the plurality of transmitting nodes, eachtransmission score associated with a given pair of transmitting nodes;

estimating a distance between each pair of transmitting nodes using thetelecommunication application, wherein the estimating of the distancebetween each pair of transmitting nodes is performed using acorresponding transmission score and a lookup table;

generating an estimation of a position of the plurality of transmittingnodes using the plurality of estimated distances;

providing the generated estimation of the position of the plurality oftransmitting nodes; and

wherein the lookup table associates a transmission score with acorresponding distance.

Clause 21. A transmitting node comprising:

a central processing unit;

a communication port operatively connected to the central processingunit, the communication port for operatively connecting the transmittingnode to a plurality of transmitting nodes via a data network;

a memory unit comprising:

-   -   a telecommunication application for forming a virtual        communication network between the plurality of transmitting        nodes;    -   an application for estimating a position of a plurality of        transmitting nodes, the application comprising:        -   instructions for generating a plurality of transmission            quality coefficients using a plurality of data packets            transmitted over the virtual communication network formed by            the plurality of transmitting nodes, each transmission            quality coefficient indicative of a quality of transmission            between a given pair of transmitting nodes;        -   instructions for determining a corresponding plurality of            transmission scores using the generated plurality of            transmission quality coefficients and data associated with            each of the plurality of transmitting nodes, each            transmission score associated with a given pair of            transmitting nodes; instructions for estimating a distance            between each pair of transmitting nodes using the            telecommunication application, wherein the estimating of the            distance between each pair of transmitting nodes is            performed using a corresponding transmission score and a            lookup table;        -   instructions for generating an estimation of a position of            the plurality of transmitting nodes using the plurality of            estimated distances;        -   instructions for providing the generated estimation of the            position of the plurality of transmitting nodes and wherein            the lookup table associates a transmission score with a            corresponding distance.

Although the above description relates to a specific preferredembodiment as presently contemplated by the inventor, it will beunderstood that the invention in its broad aspect includes functionalequivalents of the elements described herein.

1. A method for estimating a position of a plurality of transmittingnodes, the method comprising: installing a telecommunication applicationin each of the plurality of transmitting nodes forming a virtualcommunication network; transmitting a plurality of data packets, eachdata packet transmitted between a pair of transmitting nodes; generatinga plurality of transmission quality coefficients using the plurality ofdata packets, each transmission quality coefficient indicative of aquality of transmission between a given pair of transmitting nodes;determining a corresponding plurality of transmission scores using thegenerated plurality of transmission quality coefficients and dataassociated with each of the plurality of transmitting nodes, eachtransmission score associated with a given pair of transmitting nodes;estimating a distance between each pair of transmitting nodes using thetelecommunication application, wherein the estimating of the distancebetween each pair of transmitting nodes is performed using acorresponding transmission score and a lookup table; generating anestimation of a position of the plurality of transmitting nodes usingthe plurality of estimated distances; providing the generated estimationof the position of the plurality of transmitting nodes; and wherein thelookup table associates a transmission score with a correspondingdistance.
 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the virtualcommunication network is a virtual ad-hoc telecommunication network(MANET) formed by the plurality of transmitting nodes.
 3. The method asclaimed in any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein each transmitting node isone of a mobile node and a fixed node.
 4. The method as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 3, wherein the transmitting of the plurality of datapackets comprises generating data packets at a constant frequencybetween any couple of interconnected transmitting nodes.
 5. The methodas claimed in claim 4, wherein the data packets are generated betweenany couple of interconnected transmitting nodes that are directneighbors in the virtual communication network.
 6. The method as claimedin any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the transmitting of the pluralityof data packets comprises generating data packets randomly in timeaccording to a probability distribution.
 7. The method as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 6, wherein the transmission quality coefficientscomprise quality of service (QoS) metrics.
 8. The method as claimed inclaim 7, wherein the quality of service (QoS) metrics is selected from agroup consisting of a packet loss percentage, a path latency and ajitter.
 9. The method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8, whereineach transmission quality coefficient indicative of a quality oftransmission between a given pair of transmitting nodes is generated bya receiving node of the given pair of transmitting node.
 10. The methodas claimed in claim 1, wherein the determining of a correspondingplurality of transmission scores comprises combining the generatedplurality of transmission quality coefficients and data associated withthe plurality of transmitting nodes.
 11. The method as claimed in claim10, wherein the data associated with the plurality of transmitting nodescomprises information data contained in a header of a correspondingreceived packet.
 12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein theinformation data is selected from a group consisting of a nominalmaximum transmission range of network interfaces of transit nodes,corresponding intermediate transmission scores of intermediate nodes, onrange-based data.
 13. The method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to12, wherein the determining of a corresponding plurality of transmissionscores using the generated plurality of transmission qualitycoefficients and data associated with each of the plurality oftransmitting nodes comprises correlating a QoS metric to an estimatedvalue of Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR).
 14. The method as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 13, further comprising amending the lookup table overtime.
 15. The method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 14, whereinthe generating of the estimation of a position of the plurality oftransmitting nodes is performed by a given transmitting node of theplurality of transmitting nodes.
 16. The method as claimed in any one ofclaims 1 to 14, wherein the generating of the estimation of a positionof the plurality of transmitting nodes is performed by anotherprocessing unit.
 17. The method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 16,wherein the generated estimation of the position of the plurality oftransmitting nodes is provided to a given processing unit.
 18. Themethod as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 16, wherein the providing ofthe generated estimation of the position of the plurality oftransmitting nodes comprises providing a corresponding position of acorresponding transmitting node to the corresponding transmitting node.19. A method for estimating a position of a plurality of transmittingnodes, the method comprising: generating a plurality of transmissionquality coefficients using a plurality of data packets transmitted overa virtual communication network formed by the plurality of transmittingnodes, each transmission quality coefficient indicative of a quality oftransmission between a given pair of transmitting nodes; determining acorresponding plurality of transmission scores using the generatedplurality of transmission quality coefficients and data associated witheach of the plurality of transmitting nodes, each transmission scoreassociated with a given pair of transmitting nodes; estimating adistance between each pair of transmitting nodes using thetelecommunication application, wherein the estimating of the distancebetween each pair of transmitting nodes is performed using acorresponding transmission score and a lookup table; generating anestimation of a position of the plurality of transmitting nodes usingthe plurality of estimated distances; providing the generated estimationof the position of the plurality of transmitting nodes; and wherein thevirtual communication network is generated by installing atelecommunication application in each of the plurality of transmittingnodes; further wherein the lookup table associates a transmission scorewith a corresponding distance.
 20. A non-transitory computer readablestorage medium for storing computer-executable instructions which, whenexecuted, cause a processing device to perform a method for estimating aposition of a plurality of transmitting nodes, the method comprising:installing a telecommunication application in each of the plurality oftransmitting nodes forming a virtual communication network; transmittinga plurality of data packets, each data packet transmitted between a pairof transmitting nodes; generating a plurality of transmission qualitycoefficients using the plurality of data packets, each transmissionquality coefficient indicative of a quality of transmission between agiven pair of transmitting nodes; determining a corresponding pluralityof transmission scores using the generated plurality of transmissionquality coefficients and data associated with each of the plurality oftransmitting nodes, each transmission score associated with a given pairof transmitting nodes; estimating a distance between each pair oftransmitting nodes using the telecommunication application, wherein theestimating of the distance between each pair of transmitting nodes isperformed using a corresponding transmission score and a lookup table;generating an estimation of a position of the plurality of transmittingnodes using the plurality of estimated distances; providing thegenerated estimation of the position of the plurality of transmittingnodes; and wherein the lookup table associates a transmission score witha corresponding distance.
 21. A transmitting node comprising: a centralprocessing unit; a communication port operatively connected to thecentral processing unit, the communication port for operativelyconnecting the transmitting node to a plurality of transmitting nodesvia a data network; a memory unit comprising: a telecommunicationapplication for forming a virtual communication network between theplurality of transmitting nodes; an application for estimating aposition of a plurality of transmitting nodes, the applicationcomprising: instructions for generating a plurality of transmissionquality coefficients using a plurality of data packets transmitted overthe virtual communication network formed by the plurality oftransmitting nodes, each transmission quality coefficient indicative ofa quality of transmission between a given pair of transmitting nodes;instructions for determining a corresponding plurality of transmissionscores using the generated plurality of transmission qualitycoefficients and data associated with each of the plurality oftransmitting nodes, each transmission score associated with a given pairof transmitting nodes; instructions for estimating a distance betweeneach pair of transmitting nodes using the telecommunication application,wherein the estimating of the distance between each pair of transmittingnodes is performed using a corresponding transmission score and a lookuptable; instructions for generating an estimation of a position of theplurality of transmitting nodes using the plurality of estimateddistances; instructions for providing the generated estimation of theposition of the plurality of transmitting nodes and wherein the lookuptable associates a transmission score with a corresponding distance.